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07 January 2018
Photo Charl Devenish
Dr Anneke van der Spoel van Dijk is invested in contributing
to the global effort of stopping TB by 2035.
The work of Dr Anneke van der Spoel van Dijk investigates the spread of TB in the Free State population using techniques such as next generation sequencing, spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR typing. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk, a senior medical scientist in the Department of Medical Microbiology at the University of the Free State (UFS) also looks at drug resistance in her research. This work informs decisions about how best to treat patients with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB).
She employs rapid molecular techniques to track one of Africa’s most serious diseases, tuberculosis (TB).
Drug resistance
Scientists assist the National Health Laboratory Service and Department of Health in trying to refine the diagnostic tools to identify these cases earlier. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk explains: “Until recently, it took up to two years to fine-tune treatment decisions for patients with MDR-TB. Patients get a cocktail of anti-TB drugs, but it takes time to find the right combination. Re-infection and relapse (patients stopping treatment for several reasons) add to the diagnostic and treatment management challenges.
Enormous impact
“Now doctors can reduce the time needed for diagnostic certainty to about seven days, while new drugs allow reduction of treatment from more than 18 to nine months. This can have an enormous impact on the life of many patients.”
Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk’s work forms part of research in the faculty looking at resistance development in TB strains. She is currently also doing her doctoral thesis on the differences and incidence of MDR-TB among adolescents versus adults. Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk says: “It is a complicated picture, but we hope to unravel it to support better diagnostic tools and patient care.”
As part of the National Health Laboratory Service, her department is playing an important role in TB diagnostics and the training of scientists and future pathologists. “Our work is contributing to the global vision to stop TB by 2035,” Dr Van der Spoel van Dijk says.
UFS academic completes SANPAD course
2010-09-09
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Mrs Tania Rauch-Van der Merwe of the University of the Free State completed the 2009-2010 South Africa-Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD) Research Capacity Initiative (RCI) on 3 September 2010. The programme entailed six modules over a seven-week period that was distributed over the course of one year. The RCI programme aims to prepare prospective Ph.D. students to successfully plan and perform their studies with the knowledge and exposure to a wide landscape of research methodologies within their respective fields and to complete the study within a reasonable time frame. Prof. Dennis Francis, Dean of the Faculty of Education, will supervise Mrs Rauch-Van der Merwe in her Ph.D. study pertaining to education for social justice and Prof. Theresa Lorenzo will be the co-supervisor. Pictured from the left, are: Prof. Francis (Dean: Faculty of Education), Mrs Rauch-Van der Merwe (Lecturer: Department of Occupational Therapy) and Prof. Lorenzo (Division Head: Disability Studies and Occupational Therapy, University of Cape Town).
Photo: Supplied
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